2010 in review - Penrith Panthers (2nd and Semi Finalists)

Overview: The Penrith Panthers of 2010 were
among the favourites in the pre-season to win the wooden spoon. With no
blockbuster signings, a young roster and poor coaching 2010 was set to
be the year where the Panthers were set not only to be cellar dwellers
for the 6th straight season but also potentially having a new coaching
staff taking over for the 2011 season after four seasons of mediocrity
from the current administration.

However, as with everything in life, the season for the Panthers went
against the grain. Contrary to popular opinion, in Matthew Elliot's
fourth season in charge at the Panthers, the team finally realized some
of its potential. Through some luck with injuries and stability with
the halfback position the Panthers got back into the Top 8 shedding
their perennial tag as underachievers, while also putting end to the
streak of being the only team in the last 5 years to not play
semi-finals football.

While the Panthers did shed their tag as underachievers, they also
acquired the tag of overachievers with many critics targeting the
Panthers kicking game as the reason for their success, suggesting it
was purely luck that the team finished in second place. Some critic's
suggested the Panthers relied on their kicking game too heavily to
score points and while the Panthers scored 42% of tries off kicks they
were second in this stat to the Titans who never had such a claim
placed against them. Another piece of information that is not
recognized is that the Panthers scored the most tries in the
competition with 111, so not all reliance was placed on the kicking
game.

Injuries were kind to Penrith during the regular season but crippled
them in the lead up to the finals. With Petero Civoniceva being sent
off in the final game of the year along with Lachlan Coote missing a
large portion of the second half of the season, the Panthers were
already on the back foot. In the first semi final against the Raiders,
the Panthers were reduced to 13 men with injuries to Trent Waterhouse,
Frank Pritchard, Tim Grant and Matthew Bell.

In the elimination final against the Roosters in which the Panthers
were missing a number of players to injury already, forcing Coach
Elliot to start Adrian Purtell in the second row, the Panthers had no
chance when Michael Jennings, Luke Lewis and Gavin Cooper were injured
early in the game.

While 2010 was a great success for the club and its supporters, the
manner in which it ended would surely leave fans of the club and
players at the club thinking